Overview
About the role: Assistant Buyer - Building. Permanent. Up to £40,000 + Pension + BUPA + ShareSave + 6.6 weeks holiday + Hybrid Working (3 days per week in the office). Location: Southampton, Store Support Office.
We believe anyone can improve their home to make life better. From our Southampton Store Support Office (SSO) we equip our stores, our people, and our whole business with everything it takes to help our millions of customers create a home they’ll love. Join us as a Merchandising Assistant and you’ll be a big part of this.
What’s the job?
Role Purpose: Work with the Buyer to create and deliver an inspirational product range that meets the needs of our customers. Driving sales, margin (GM & GM%), and market share across all channels, delivering vendor contributions, rebate, and retail price index targets through strong vendor partnerships. Be responsible for the performance of specific subcategories and the relevant vendor relationships.
Responsibilities
* Work alongside the Buyer to develop and implement a category proposition that meets customer needs, identifying opportunities and mitigating risk, while delivering against sales, margin, and market share targets.
* Support the sourcing and development of a compelling product range by building relationships with new and existing vendors, reflecting the category strategy.
* Collaborate with the Offer & Sourcing (O&S) team to shape and develop an own-label proposition that meets customer and market needs.
* Support the buying process with awareness of cross-functional impact, following a critical path to ensure stock is ordered and delivered on time.
* Assist in end-to-end vendor strategy management including contract and cost price negotiation, vendor contributions, and annual performance review.
* Gather insights to support the creation of the category pricing hierarchy, providing inputs into the Minderest comparison tool.
* Work with the category Merchandising team to support product lifecycle, range performance, trading opportunities, promotions, and range reviews.
* Collaborate with Visual Merchandising and Digital teams to improve customer journeys in stores and online.
* Co-ordinate and execute the sampling process for range development, including QA and Lab setup requirements.
* Coordinate with Vendors, Marketing and Digital teams to support acquisition and delivery of marketing assets for range and trading; lead on brochures for the category where required.
* Ensure products and vendors are set up in line with agreed processes with accurate data.
* Use tools (e.g., Yammer) to share category information and respond to queries.
* Conduct regular store (digital & physical), competitor, and vendor visits to inform trading decisions.
* Manage and influence stakeholders across levels to support KPI delivery.
* Undertake other duties as reasonably required.
What We Need
Required Skills & Experience:
* Previous experience of sourcing and buying product ranges.
* Ability to understand customer insights and market trends.
* Experience in vendor management and contract negotiation.
* Strong communication and influencing skills.
* Ability to build relationships at all levels.
* Attention to detail to assist with issue resolution and problem solving.
* Experience of managing projects and holding stakeholders to account.
* Commercial and financial awareness.
* Flexible and adaptable.
* Proactive.
* Intermediate Microsoft Office skills, in particular Excel and PowerPoint.
What’s in it for me?
As part of a great team, you’ll be valued for who you are. We’re committed to making B&Q more diverse and representative of the communities we serve, where everyone can feel they belong and have equal opportunities. You will have access to a range of networks that represent our colleagues and allies and help us to continue to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of our business. We also recognise that wellness means different things to different people, and we want to help colleagues be at their best and feel well by offering a range of benefits to help you. As well as a competitive salary, our benefits package includes an award-winning pension scheme, bonus, ShareSave options, 6.6 weeks holiday, payroll giving, an Employee Assistance Programme, shopping discounts, colleague wellbeing benefits and lots more.
So we can support you during the application or interview process, please contact recruitment@b-and-q.co.uk for any recruitment adjustments.
Additional information
* Seniority level: Entry level
* Employment type: Full-time
* Job function: Purchasing and Supply Chain
* Industries: Retail
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